-
Over the years, I’ve worked with home builders who have invested significant time, money, and resources into developing their Online Sales Counselor (OSC) programs. They’ve hired talented people, invested in CRM systems, provided training, and established performance goals. But somewhere along the way, something happens. The OSC program stops being actively managed and starts being measured. How many leads came in this month? How many appointments were set? How many sales came from online leads? What’s the conversion rate? Don’t get me wrong. Those numbers matter. I’m a big believer…
-
Over the years, I’ve worked with home builders of all sizes, helping them build, train, and grow their Online Sales Counselor (OSC) programs. And one thing I’ve learned is that even the best OSCs need more than great training to be successful. They need ongoing coaching, leadership, accountability, and someone who truly understands their unique role. But here’s the challenge. Who is managing your OSC program? In many homebuilding companies, that responsibility falls on the VP of Sales, Director of Sales, or another member of the leadership team who already…
-
October is here, which means we are officially entering the last quarter of the year. And I think this is a really important time to ask ourselves a question: What are we going to do with the next 90 days? There is a lot of uncertainty in our industry right now. Interest rates, affordability, consumer confidence, traffic and the economy are all creating questions about what the rest of this year will look like and what we can expect when we head into the spring selling season. We can’t control…
-
The Builder Marketing Summit has wrapped up for another year, and after two fast and furious days in Dallas, I walked away energized, full of ideas and, as always, wishing there had been just a little more time to talk with everyone. This was my fourth year joining Greg Bray of Blue Tangerine and Kevin Weitzel of Outhouse for the Summit, where they once again gave me free rein to lead the Online Sales Counselor track. That opportunity means a lot to me because there simply aren’t many industry events…
-
Why an AI Tool Isn’t the Same as an AI Strategy AI is everywhere in new home sales right now. Chatbots, automated follow-up, texting, dialers, lead nurturing, appointment setting. There are some incredible tools available, and I am certainly not anti-AI. Used correctly, AI can help us respond faster, manage more opportunities and take some of the repetitive work off our plates. But buying an AI tool is not the same thing as having an AI strategy. You don’t just buy it, unbox it, plug it into your website or…
-
One of the first things I ask for when I start working with a new builder has nothing to do with conversion rates, lead response times, or appointment-setting percentages. Well okay I ask for all of that stuff. But I also ask for this… I ask to see every follow-up sequence living inside their CRM. The automated emails. The texts. The videos. The call tasks. Everything. Why? Because before I can coach an Online Sales Counselor, I want to understand what the buyer is experiencing. Every email, every text message,…
-
“Everyone knows something you don’t… learn from them.” It’s a simple phrase, but one that’s resonated with me for decades. I’m not even sure where I first heard it, but it’s become part of who I am and how I approach life. Long before Blue Gypsy. Long before I was speaking at conferences or teaching classes. Before I ever became an Online Sales Counselor. It’s a mindset I’ve carried with me from experience to experience…country to country. I learned it years ago while traveling the world. Every place I visited…
-
In our last blog post about One Team, One Experience I talked heavily about alignment. If the move from online to onsite is done well, it should feel natural from the buyer’s perspective. Exciting, even. The OSC should be building anticipation, not creating confusion. It should sound more like: “I’d love for you to meet my good friend; they’re going to have a much better handle on those specific house questions and help you take the next step.” That is a handoff. Not: “Here’s the appointment. Good luck.…
-
Earlier this month, I had the pleasure of joining an NAHB Shop Talk with a title so good I figured it deserved a blog post of its own: One Team, One Experience: Turning Spring Traffic into Sales. When a topic is this relevant, this timely, and this painfully familiar to anyone in home building, you don’t just leave it neatly tucked inside a one-hour conversation. You bring it back out, dust it off, and say, “Alright, let’s talk about what this really means.” The discussion was moderated by Kelly Fink,…
-
I feel like I make a post about this almost every year… but spring cleaning isn’t just for closets, junk drawers, and that cup holder in your car full of receipts, hair ties, mystery crumbs, and old empty coffee cups from Starbucks. It’s for your follow-up too. Let’s be honest… somewhere in that CRM is a sales process you built with the best of intentions and then never looked at again. She’s out there. Collecting dust. Sending old emails. Possibly embarrassing you. This time of year, is the perfect excuse…
Why I’m Skeptical of “Micro-Dosing” AI Courses
Alright, friends. We’re closing out March Debunking AI Month with one more thing I need to get off my chest: I am deeply skeptical of these micro learning AI courses that keep popping up all over my social feed. You know the ones. “Learn 47 AI tools in 28 days!” “Become an AI power user by next Tuesday!” “Master the future with our daily 10-minute lessons!” Meanwhile I’m over here thinking… who has time to…
From Training to Ownership: How Builders Keep OSC Programs Strong
One thing I’ve learned over the past 19 years of building and rebuilding Online Sales Counselor (OSC) programs, and 14 years of consulting with builders across the country is this: Hiring a consultant doesn’t automatically change a program. It’s what happens between consulting, training, strategy, and leadership that makes the difference. I can build structure. I can train skills. I can create systems that make your OSC team run like a machine. But if leadership…
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Online Sales Counselors (OSCs)
Being an OSC in the homebuilding industry isn’t just a job, it’s a balancing act, a communication art form, and a powerhouse role that lives at the crossroads of marketing and sales. If you’re looking to level up your performance and stand out, these 7 habits of highly effective OSCs will help you build stronger relationships, streamline your workflow, and ultimately set more appointments that convert. Let’s break them down: Be Numbers Driven Know your…
A New Kind of March Madness: March Is Debunking AI Month (And I’m Declaring It Official)
I just came back from the International Builders Show, and there were no less than 39 educational sessions with the word AI in the title, and vastly more that mentioned AI in the course of their presentation. AI has become to new home builders what, Marsha was to Brady Bunch. “Marsha, Marsha, Marsha…” if you don’t get the reference, it means I’m entirely too old. But I digress. I don’t know who needs to hear…
IBS 2026: So Many Great Sessions… and Only One of Me
Every year I walk into the International Builders’ Show with the same challenge. There is simply too much good content. IBS is one of the few places where you can find yourself staring at your schedule thinking, “I want to be in three different rooms at the same time.” Between sales, marketing, technology, leadership, and customer experience sessions, there is always more to learn than any one person can realistically absorb in three days. That’s…
Audits Aren’t Just for the IRS. They’re for Builders Who Want Answers.
Let’s be honest. No one gets excited about the word “audit.” But if you’re looking to increase conversions, improve customer experience, and stop leads from quietly disappearing into the void, then this is exactly what you should be paying attention to. Because this is not the year to skip the audit. I get it. When the market feels uncertain, it’s easy to push internal reviews to the bottom of the list. Everyone’s doing more with…
You Asked. We Built It. Introducing the Blue Gypsy Inc. Online Sales Reboot
For years, builders could rely on momentum. Strong demand covered a lot of imperfections: slow follow-up, messy databases, inconsistent processes, undertrained teams, outdated scripts, and unclear metrics. Homes sold anyway. That market is gone. Today’s buyers are more cautious, more informed, and far less forgiving. They expect speed, clarity, relevance, and follow-through. And they disappear quickly when they don’t get it. Most builders know this. What they don’t always know is where their online sales…
The Ball Dropped. The Confetti Fell. And Your Leads Are Still Waiting.
Every New Year starts the same way. The ball drops. We toast to “fresh starts.” Someone says, “This is the year we really tighten things up.” And somewhere, right now… an online homebuyer filled out a form on your website and is still waiting to hear back. Which brings me to the newly released 2025 Online Homebuyer Mystery Shop Report. And fair warning: this one doesn’t whisper. It clears its throat and says, “Hey… we…
The Book Is Out, Builders Are Buying, and IBS Is Around the Corner
It’s finally here! My new book, Attract, Engage, Convert is now available on Amazon and I couldn’t be more excited! This book is for builders, OSCs, marketing teams, sales leaders, and anyone trying to make sense of what really works and how to set up a successful OSC program. It’s built from nearly two decades in the trenches, helping builders and OSCs create meaningful, intentional online sales programs. And it was a labor of love. Even…
Why an In-House OSC Isn’t Just “Nice to Have” It’s Mission Critical
If you’re considering launching an Online Sales Counselor (OSC) program, or reviving one that’s stalled, you may be tempted by the promise of outsourcing. The idea of offloading the responsibility of nurturing your digital leads to a third-party service may sound like a time-saving solution. But here’s the hard truth: There is no easy button when it comes to creating a successful OSC program. Whether you bring your OSC in-house or contract the role out,…